Impacted crop vs sour crop... Total recovery thanks!

[Godiva]

Thanks for the input folks! I amnot having a good time with this situation (

) I put Sonnet on shower curtains in a stall in the coop since the broody jail is being used for a broody. It was working great and actually last night her crop was definitely smaller than earlier. But this morning when I went to check on her she had managed to pull the shower curtain off in the one spot that wasn't secured tight enough and ate a bunch of the old feed and possibly some shavings!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She is hungry, I am taking that as a good sign but now her crop is harder and I am really hoping that we can move this stuff. Our vet helped out once before with a pullet that had thread around her tongue but they don't see birds at all usually. I have been massaging her crop (not sure how long or how hard... just trying to be gentle and yet move things around a little. She had bread soaked in olive oil today, not much but she was hungry for it. Her poop was dark green today instead of clear watery looking like yesterday. Her crop is down to about golf ball size now (she is a bantam cochin) but it looks like it is still hanging down real low. She seems pretty chirpy all things considered and has spent most of the day pacing at the doorway where she can see her pals. She really wants to get back with them... I will go and check on her once more tonight and if anything is new will update. I don't think she has sour crop, I gave her the ACV just in case - but there is no foul smell or regurgitation today, it feels like the crop contents are becoming more compact which doesn't seem to be a good thing to me... I can't imagine doing crop surgery on my bird but I don't want her to suffer unnessecarily either... how long can I leave it and try these other measures before we have to go the route of crop surgery or culling. She is my one and only breeding and possibly show quality bird

and an absolute sweetheart. There's times when this chicken keeping gets pretty heartbreaking... pray for us OK?

 

[Godiva]

Well Sonnet seems a little better this morning. Her crop is softer and I can feel some hay or grass in there now, before it seemed pretty packed. I massaged her crop for a little while, which she really doesn't like! Gave her kefir with olive oil this morning which she seemed to really enjoy. HOpefully that will give her some nutrients while we get this mass moving. A few poops, small, dark green with a little white and still some clear liquid with it. She feels pretty thin, of course being a cochin she looks lovely and round but when I pick her up her breastbone is really sharp. I am wondering about putting a little of the pellets in the kefir oil mixture and let them soften and then let her eat some. Just tiny amounts through the day? There doesn't seem to be any signs of sour crop, I don't know if she is drinking the ACV water so am giving her droppers of that whenever I go down as well. Figure it won't do any harm for her to have extra fluid right now...

 

[LynneP]

Here are some things you can now offer to give her calories-

Of course bread soaked in olive oil
Diced tomatoes
Diced cucumber
applesauce or grated apple, do not add sugar
feed soaked in water
feed soaked in water and mixed with peanut butter (not chunky)

Went through this last week with a golden comet, the only one who thinks alfalfa is for hens, not for the horse. The principle is lubrication, followed by acidic foods that dissolve the outer layer of coarse plant material, then higher calorie foods mixed with feed. You can go to canned cat food with the mushy feed too, to get protein in.

My hen has recovered and has begun laying again.

The other trick is the type of crop massage, which I was not applying well enough, or deeply enough until a fellow fancier tipped me off. You can only go deep if you are SURE there is nothing in there which will cut the crop. In fact I learned how to break the mass into one-inch sections which she then began to digest. It's worth learning, and the vets now have an option to surgery that involves a drug injected in the breast of the hen, which turns the crop spasmodic and gets the mass through. Again, it can only be used for certain kinds of upper impactions.

The green poop, (possibly globular?) is mostly bile and very alkaline. You will know nutrients are getting all the way hrough when you see some brown, with a side of white urates. You girl is now at the stage where dehydation is a major issue and where her weight loss can throw off her electrolytes, so adding them to water would not be amiss. You were wise to add the ACV to her water, this is likely what dissolved the outer layer of the plant material and reduced the size of her crop, along with your massage.

 

[cobrien]

I recently had a chick almost die from impacted crop but she is now fine. Impacted crop can lead to sour crop, so they are related. Impacted crop feels like a very hard crop. My chickie was not eating and lethargic and I noticed her crop was very hard. She was drinking a little. they say not to feed anything except bread w/ olive oil when this happens. I was worried that chickie would die with no food over night, since she was just days old. she would not eat the bread, so I force fed some baby bird formula. this immediately caused sour crop (I think) - the crop inflated like a balloon. we massaged her crop in a downward direction every hour over night. this caused some regurgitation of clear fluid, which is good in one sense because the 'bad stuff' could come out, but dangerous because they could aspirate it and die. we were lucky this didn't happen. in the morning she was still weak, not eating, crop impacted. by this time we were so attached to her after nursing her all night and naming her Halle Blueberry, so took her to the vet, she got a shot of Reglan and some fluids. the Reglan cleared her crop right out and within 6 hours she was eating normally.

if you don't plan to go to the vet, follow the links already posted in this thread, try the bread and olive oil, massaging the crop, and adding apple cider vinegar to the water (see instructions in some of the links posted here).

good luck!!!!

 

[Jenski]

LynneP, this is great information. Wonder if we could make that a sticky on this forum . . .??

 

[LynneP]

Sure, I fought hard to save my hen Zipfi, Jenski, and it didn't progress to sour crop. It's my understanding that everything you offer when it's impacted should be acidic and no sugar to avoid the fermentation that leads to sour crop...

 

[Godiva]

Thank you SO much for the input LynneP! That was exactly what I was needing to know as far as the massage and also the foods. She had bread soaked in olive oil today and a little kefir with olive oil too. I saw her drinking today for the first time so that was a relief. I have been giving her little bits of the ACV water but was sure it wasn't enough. Sonnet seems pretty perky today. Her crop is definitely softer and I have been massaging a bit deeper but still not what you were describing. I have been watching the poop today - waiting for some kind of breakthrough but still the small dark green poop with a tiny bit of white and also some clear liquid. Still no sour crop, thank God. I will add some electrolytes to the water in the am. Should have thought of that... I really hope that this all kicks in soon! My DH had his job cut by half so we really can't afford any vet visits even if we could find one that would see a pet chicken.

 

[chickie momma di]

Godiva
we just got back from the vet with our hen w/swolen crop. this is what she told us to do.
keep her seperated tonight
since ours is pooping that is a good sign.
feed olive oil ours is taking it on her own she loves it like she knows she needs it
she gave fluids just in case and put a whole suringe of mineral oil in to her crop
she said if the bird is eating lots of rocks and weird stuff it means there is a deficiancy in her diet in our case it is calcium. It causes them to eat all kinds of crazy stuff. there was a word for it but forgot but it began w/ a p. feeding fruit w/ greens conteracts the benefits of the greens and they don't absorb the calcium
for tonight until we can get to the feed store she said to feed crushed up tums.
excellent source of calcium can do fruit flavored and mine loved it.
lots of liquid. gatoraide watered down 1/2 will replace what is lost due to dehydration.
all of this is only if she can pass her waste. if not passing waste then don't feed. but offer water at least.
massage, massage, massage gently.
she also said she could have layer pellets softened or crushed to pass easier.
gracie is passing rocks. lots of rocks. and some of the plastic!
if this works she will not need the surgery!
vet also said to keep her in the house tonight to watch closely. if better can go to her run away from pebbles & rocks (no free ranging) until additional calcium starts to be absorbed and crazy cravings will go away.
good luck
hope this helped

 

[Godiva]

Well, I just finished down in the coop and Sonnet is definitely a bit better today. Her crop was a lot smaller than yesterday and she was really hungry for the bread soaked in olive oil and the scrambled egg I gave her. She had pooped a few small real poops, look pretty dry though. She is so cute... she has got used to the eye dropper that I give her water etc in and actually nibbles at the tip for the liquids. I was encouraged by that too. She ate all the food I gave her, a tiny bantam egg scrambled and about a 1/4 of a slice of bread in oil. Will take her some grated apple later and also try some soaked feed. I am feeling more hopeful today that we are gaining some headway at last.

 

[LynneP]

That's good news for both of you!

About the droppings- now that you're seeing urates from Sonnet you are getting better hydration. I swear these birds will eat darn near anything. Some seem to prefer stones and hay over proper feed, even when you provide what they should have. If I were breeding chickens, I'd exclude my Zipfi from the gene pool!

Gracie is a tricky case, glad to hear the plastic is passing through. She may have added rocks to grind up the plastic. Oh myyyyyyyyyyy...